- 18 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Look at the River Islands guest line and who do you see it's none other than Mark Spears of ESPN
00:07all kinds of tapped in on everything going on in the league and with the Golden State Warriors
00:13we got you Mark don't you worry you look great you look great how you doing my man
00:18man Hashim Thabit that's my guy Hashim Thabit what you say I had a dinner with him at the
00:25battery one time in San Francisco 73 Tanzania he is now he was recently named the president of the
00:34Tanzanian Basketball Federation get out of here yeah so he's still involved with basketball he made
00:41his money what did he order he stole it a little bit yeah um I love that how you doing
00:49man what's
00:50going on I'm actually in New Orleans uh visiting my mom uh shout out to moms she grew she got
00:58a
00:58degree from San Jose State a lot of people out there love her um but I'm speaking at remember
01:03I was telling y'all last week about that bag yep I'm actually the commencement speaker at a
01:10western governor's university two graduations tomorrow uh at the smoothie king center so I
01:19did my walk through today it's kind of crazy to actually do commencement speech at the smoothie
01:24king center but doing them uh two of them tomorrow what yeah excited about that what's the message like
01:30what's your big message you want them to take away ah man it's an online school and most of the
01:38students are over 40. I I think for a lot of them they're first generation students um who you're
01:47motivating going forward whether it's your kids or your uh loved ones or niece nephew like somebody
01:54is going to be motivated by the fact that you were able to do this while working while raising a
01:59family
02:00maybe work in red eye like my dad did uh the red eye shift at new united motors in Fremont
02:07when he got his
02:08degree from the university of phoenix certainly a lot not easy but these these people um fought in
02:14tough circumstances to get a degree awesome mark the last time you were on with us uh right at the
02:20start of the conversation you received a text from jonathan kaminga and you yeah he texted me back today
02:26yeah you were you were kind enough to obviously have our conversation first uh but yeah I'd like to
02:31you know how how'd the conversation go after you got off the air with us a text message conversation
02:37with jonathan is really slow it's almost like uh um telegraph man so what'd you yeah what'd you say
02:47back to him i just asked him how he's doing he's like atlanta's cool it's a lot different than the
02:53bay that was the main thing he said but he said he's really enjoying it and adjusting but it sounds
02:58like he already misses the bay a little bit huh that's interesting um and and i like the reason
03:03i asked he said mr warriors yeah i caught that um but i mean look this trade that all of
03:11us have
03:12talked about so much it to this point has led to four basketball games three for jonathan one for
03:19chris stops the further we get away from it um what's your view on it now
03:27from the beginning when we talked about it guys the key words i said was if healthy
03:31yep right and in a little bit of what we saw i could see why they'd be fascinated by what
03:39he does
03:39he's seven three he could shoot threes he could block shots he could rebound he does everything and
03:44picture that with steph and jimmy butler i think it's perfect but it's just you know he has this you
03:53really intriguing not familiar uh sickness that from what i understood um when the warriors got
04:04him didn't think it was an issue which makes me wonder uh you know was information they got correct
04:12or not and you know because why would you make that trade and give this a run if uh the
04:20potts injury
04:20was something that was still pretty relevant or prevalent for him yeah and yet uh they did it
04:27now that he might actually be ready to play and next time the warriors get on the floor and so
04:31how much are you looking at whatever small sample it is like porzingis can he play with staff can they
04:37get five to six or seven games and how much will that lead to them maybe wanting to keep him
04:42around
04:44i i think his game fits uh he doesn't have to audition me on on his game he has to
04:51be in uniform
04:53uh the best ability they say is availability and he's if if he could show that he could be healthy
05:01and play 70 games 65 games i think they should bring him back but what's the price right and for
05:10him
05:10even if the warriors able to figure this out and get him healthy and get it past it
05:15the the lower numbers he plays could end up benefiting the warriors from a number standpoint
05:21in terms of resigning him because obviously there's some risk involved
05:26mark spears espn with us here on willard and dibs 95 7 the game hey it's a good day to
05:32ask you this
05:33because he was really good last night you know how polarizing he is to this fan base i want to
05:38know
05:39what you think the league thinks of brandon pajemski and how you think the warriors will handle
05:45his potential contract over the next three to 12 months
05:53that's a really tough one what do you give him right like does he is he coming to money is
06:00he is
06:00he more is he less i think for him it's imperative to finish strong i know uh his agent bill
06:08duffy
06:08has been uh chomping at the bit pulling my ear about how this is the pozemski that you should
06:15be seeing he's had a nice little stretch and you know that's a good thing for the warriors because
06:20i'm certainly sure he was on the block could have been moved um i i think the thing with with
06:26pods is
06:27just well i guess we can't even say pods right now right i mean it sounds too much like the
06:32other
06:32issue you just have to be really hard with the d mark yeah you got pods there you go i
06:40think the
06:40thing with him is he has to just be consistent in this way the rest of the season it's he
06:47you don't
06:48want to be hit and miss i think that was probably part of the problem with coming is you see
06:51amazing
06:51thing one night and then it's gone the next if pods can show um some consistency the rest of the
06:59season i think he's really helping his cause is his game the type of game that really translates to
07:04any of the 30 teams as a kind of like a seventh man a super sub i mean some of
07:11these teams are bad
07:12man i think you start for some of these teams too um but he i think he's getting a better
07:20basket
07:20ball iq uh both you guys know some of the decisions he made in his first two years with
07:27making pull your hair out and me and dibs don't have much of it um and but it just it
07:34seems like
07:35there's just less and less mind numbing hair scratch head scratching moves from him especially
07:42of late just good baskets like last night man the way he which i love and maybe this is the
07:49old
07:49school basketball player in me i love seeing guards go to the basket man and i just settle for jumpers
07:55and he's i think sealed the game in a lot of ways by you know going to the basket getting
08:01layups and so
08:03he's a dual threat because he can shoot outside and take to the ball to hold maybe he learned that
08:07from stuff is that something he's really really good at um but i think maybe now with some maturity
08:17after showing some immaturity uh from his game and personally we're we're seeing the better of him
08:23right now and it's finally starting to show uh mark we we we got a chance to ask both steve
08:29kerr and
08:29mike dunley be this week about the warriors or y'all cause a stir baby i know it i made
08:34the interview
08:35y'all cause a national stir that was him not me hold on actually i i it's funny i'm impressed
08:42no but
08:43but steve caused it i like steve joked with us because he came on again since then and he's like
08:49you got me in trouble the question was it was christophe's regular sick or was this having to do
08:56with his condition and then steve brought up that whole story i love about like i love about y'all
09:01y'all ask y'all ask good questions when when you guys talk to him like uh i i heard
09:08what dev said
09:09about the fans like uh pozivsky the other day yeah like y'all ain't y'all ain't y'all ain't
09:16throwing no
09:16soft layups up there you know y'all throwing some fast pitches and i like i love when you guys
09:21talk to
09:21him i think steve knows he better be on his toes speaking to you guys because it's it's not going
09:27to be a homer interview which i certainly respect unless i mean hey i know i'm working alongside
09:33you guys but i feel like when you guys talk to him you guys you know i learned something and
09:38you get
09:38some great stuff from him well we appreciate that and now we're about to hold your feet to the fire
09:42mark yeah that's it no i actually i ain't steve no no i ain't paying me so you ain't holding
09:50my
09:50feet to the fire no but you but you did do a new article on ryan rollins which is a
09:55name that warrior
09:56fans never really got to know that well and he's with the bucks now and he's a candidate for most
10:02improved player and i think it's an opportunity whether we're talking pods kaminga rollins and
10:09obviously this was all happening this right right but the warriors were winning at the time so that's
10:14important to keep in mind but what do you think about their developmental process the last few years
10:22um i'm sure it could leave something to be desired um when i look at james wiseman
10:30i wonder not not only i don't know if i blame the warriors or i blame also the pandemic when
10:36he came up
10:36uh he had some injuries young being in the pandemic away from home i i think mentally he just wasn't
10:46there i you could ask myself um several other writers like i truly believe that wiseman was going
10:54to be good i thought he's going to be the next david robinson i watched him in the hoop summit
11:00and but just something wasn't right there but he's going to other places and this isn't like what
11:07you've seen from jk and you isn't what you've seen from rollins like he's playing for usa basketball's
11:14like team of former nba players right now trying you know doing a little qualifying action like so no
11:20one so no other team in the league but that to me to me is the most curious one in
11:25terms of ryan
11:26rollins i think you're right like warriors fans didn't get to know him long enough and he was
11:31involved in the you know jordan pool chris paul trade um but he also was waved and the warriors
11:38could have picked him up if they knew something maybe they didn't they didn't know he was going
11:41to be that good but i'm sure he would have came back if there was interest he he still stalks
11:46to
11:47steph and learned a lot from steph and he's a big time steal for the bucks right now and probably
11:52another player that uh warriors fans don't read my story on it because they'll just probably make
11:57you a little yeah a little sicker yeah probably not yeah not the right time for word fans to read
12:02that story because because that basically tells me that hey the warriors can draft well in the second
12:07round right they pick pick rollins up in the second round and he started most of the games for the
12:11bucks this season and gee second rounder and uh i mean you had tjd and you know you were able
12:17to
12:17trade him at least yeah no doubt mark i i wonder about the idea of development where
12:22where do you think the responsibility falls is it the player is it the team i know it's probably a
12:27mix of both but when you talk when you think about a team doesn't quote develop somebody do you think
12:33it's more on the player to to get better i think it's a combination of things it's on the player
12:41it's
12:41on the staff it's on the you know what the franchise has to offer and then also it could be
12:47on the playing
12:47style i i was talking to one of my buddies uh al gordon the other day about harold minor and
12:54i mean
12:54i'm going into craps a little bit but i thought harold minor was an amazing superstar can't miss guy
13:00out of usc and then he gets drafted by miami and they play half court and then he goes to
13:06play with
13:06paces after that and he never really got to accentuate his his greatness uh the things that
13:11he was great at and i think that's the tough things with players right now it's like it's not
13:16like college where i can pick where i want to go um you're going to a team that picks you
13:23and a lot
13:24of times you'll see players who because of the franchise that they they that pick them like
13:32they don't get the opportunity like you look at dylan harper right now right dylan harper if he played
13:39for a team like cooper flags playing on now maybe he's rookie of the year maybe he's on charlotte
13:45maybe he's rookie of the year but the spurs are just so good he he's not really getting uh the
13:51top
13:52opportunity but when he plays he's been incredible but he'll end up being a great pro regardless because
13:59he's he's an amazing player but so many players if you get drafted by the wrong place and maybe that
14:05was the case for kaminga like he doesn't fit the high iq of the bat uh the warriors it it
14:11doesn't
14:11work out mark spears espn with us here on withered and dibs uh mark i this is a little bit
14:18of a uh of
14:19two pieces about steph so i'll start with this how long how much longer do you think he wants to
14:25play
14:28well he told me he wants to he's still considering the 28 olympics right so if he's doing that then
14:35that tells me at least through the 27 28 season so uh yeah how do the warriors balance the idea
14:44of
14:45getting too old but also like still wanting to surround steph with with veteran players if this
14:53goes on for another three years because they already they already feel too old so how do they
14:59balance this yeah well steph i'm steph you can play with the warriors as long as if i'm the warriors
15:07you can play there as long as he wants to right right draymond i i wouldn't be surprised if draymond
15:14plays out his contract at his last year of this deal uh if he if he so many ops in
15:20is his last year like
15:22he he has so many things he could do his body is beat up from playing big bigs guys 50
15:28pounds heavier
15:29um so i do think there's just going to be a natural progression with the attrition um jimmy
15:36butler being older draymond being older those guys maybe uh i don't know how much jimmy's gonna play
15:42we'll see how his body is but um i can see the warriors having a much younger team next season
15:48like
15:49if porzingis isn't live up to it they'll use that money for somebody else and it could be younger
15:54but what stephen curry has created here is a brand what he's created here is a franchise
16:01that everybody will as a free agent has to consider uh he's raised this place into the top
16:09uh most valuable nba franchise in the league and he's also one of the greatest human beings you'll
16:16ever meet so i do think that the one thing that when you have golden state when you're the next
16:22when
16:22you're the lakers right perhaps miami could throw on that you could always make a splash in free agency
16:29you could always make a splash in trades because guys will ask to come to you so just because the
16:35warriors are young right now um doesn't mean that they can't revamp the whole thing when you have
16:42steve steph curry there are going to be people that are going to want to play with him ask to
16:47play with him and it's just going to be a matter of the warriors front office being creative to make
16:52that happen and if you just think about next year and you know jimmy back in january or february
16:57whatever draymond's last year and assume that porzingis is gone what type of player would you look to
17:03if you were mike dunleavy what just type of player do they need to bring in to make this team
17:08better
17:09a healthy porzingis yeah somebody like that like i mean that to me like they need a center that
17:17could do a lot of different things i don't think they need another big score off the bench um
17:24i i thought that with cam thomas was available that he was somebody i think that could have gave him
17:30a
17:31first bench he's not the greatest defender i do like their young guys and one thing that steph told me
17:37was he wanted to when i mentioned it earlier like steph wanted to come wants to come back
17:43and he wants his young teammates to play in the postseason he understands the warriors are in a
17:49no-man's land they're too good to be in the in the uh you know the nba lottery and they're
17:56not good
17:56enough to probably get a top six they're going to be a playing team but when you have stephen curry
18:01playing you can win a playing game you can get in the playoffs and he wants to be in the
18:06playoff
18:06for his young guys um but he also said i ain't got jimmy butler alongside me so i think he's
18:13really
18:13realistic of what this postseason will be he you know i think he knows if he gets the first round
18:20it's probably going to be okc or san antonio and in short live but that tells me that he does
18:27have
18:28some intrigue and faith in his young guys that is so important for him to try to get at least
18:33a
18:33first round playoff uh appearance with them to get them that experience mark i'd love to hear you
18:38expand on that because you're talking to a fan base right now that that collectively is kind of down
18:44on on the young guys but you said that steph kind of likes him and that you kind of like
18:48him
18:48what are the specifics there no he brought he brought that up yeah i didn't i didn't ask him about
18:54the young guys at all i was asking him about when he was coming back because i my whole point
19:00and i
19:00think maybe i could have explained it better last week was like are you with so many stars having
19:06these wink wink surgeries or just you know calling it quits this year was he next on the list and
19:12no
19:12he's not he wants to play this season he wants to play in the postseason does he have championship
19:19aspirations i think he's realistic about that he mentioned to me that jimmy bother is not
19:23going to be there but he obviously must like pozemski gee some of the young guys on the team
19:31moody um if it's important for him to get them playoff time because i think he knows whether it's
19:40a yannis whether it's a lebron james like there's going to be somebody next summer that's going to join
19:46him join jimmy join draymond assuming he's still there too and and remember man this is the warriors
19:55they got a brand they could quick fix and add some talent so but on the cheaper side is the
20:02younger
20:02guys and if you get them that good experience and like they're getting now you know then then it's
20:08going to help the franchise in the long run and save them some money for somebody bigger in the process
20:13did i hear you just say that lebron james is a possibility for the warriors this summer
20:19i i thought he's always been a possibility i mean i with his relationship with staff with his
20:25relationship with draymond uh i i can't see him in a lakers uniform next year if i was a betting
20:33man
20:33and look i haven't talked to him so let's not act like i'm i'm just playing you know gm fantasy
20:41gm mark
20:42spears right but if i was based on what i'm the streets are saying based on what i'm hearing
20:49like if he does return cleveland would be number one and golden state would be considered
20:56interesting streets very interesting hey mark it's just it's just great stuff it's always great to
21:03have you good luck with good luck with the weekend and and and the engagements and all of that thank
21:08you
21:08so much yeah maybe i'll come back in studio next week man yeah where y'all at we're always i
21:14mean
21:14bring that bag you're about to get that's right just north of market we just come on over how about
21:20i bring some kendall jackson wine some of some wine now you're talking yeah now you're talking yeah
21:26now you absolutely well just come late in the show and then we'll that's easy yeah we'll uncork that
21:31thing as soon as we're done boom boom i'd rather do it on the air that's fine too i mean
21:37sure
21:37well you know no risk it no biscuit let's do it
21:42all right fellas all right mark yep you'd be good
21:45there it is mark spears espn
21:49there it is mark spears espn
21:49there it is mark spears espn
21:50there it is mark spears espn
21:50there it is mark spears espn
Comments